The endroni (/ˈɛndrəʊni/) is a gangly, black and white stranger, identifiable by its thin stripes, dark eye markings, and long, multi-jointed arms. Although the endroni lacks a skeleton, its stringy black flesh is significantly thicker and more cartilaginous in its limbs and around its snout. Its teeth are jagged in shape and golden in color, and its mouth connects directly with its body cavity, which is filled with a multitude of dark, oily organs. These structures resemble human digestive organs, and exude an acidic sludge corrosive enough to eat through tin.

The endroni's breath is thick and noxious, while its greasy flesh smells of tar and gasoline. This stranger tends to be one of the most foul-smelling strains, carrying the stench of garbage with it everywhere it goes. Despite the endroni's putrid odor and appearance, its skin is smooth, and repels all matter from its surface. Even glue, mud, and wet cement slide off, unable to cling to the endroni's frictionless exterior. This white skin oozes a thin black oil when touched, however, staining fabric, wood, and most other non-metal substances. As such, although the endroni remains pristine in even the most filthy of environments, it befouls all that it comes in contact with1.

1.

"Have you seen the vile kings who make such filth of pretty things?" source unknown

The endroni's rubbery skin and gummy flesh make it resistant to heat, cold, and most abrasions. It heals slowly, however (taking up to a year to recover from deep gashes, with small cuts healing more quickly), and with obvious deformation following severe or repeated injuries. Breaks to the arms or fingers tend to lead to the development of new joints during regrowth.

The endroni speaks with a rasp that is masculine in tonality but not overly deep in pitch. It possesses no language of its own, communicating instead through short, nonsensical phrases, with a tendency towards rhyme. The endroni speaks without opening its mouth, but despite its smiling face, its tone is fearful and unsure2.

2.

"As though forced to read its statements at gunpoint, it […]" Sonári, Idilo. confession transcripts

environment and generation

The endroni appears in areas of extreme filth, such as garbage dumps, junkyards, or trash-filled drainage ditches. It loves clutter, and although its large size necessitates a large environment, its presence is not unheard-of in the long-abandoned, hollowed-out homes of severe hoarders.

"I was either lucky or unlucky to see one of them generate one day. On my path through the junkyard, I noticed oil canisters, empty soup containers, and the guts of old appliances leaking liquid, which flowed together as the waters of a stream do congregate, traveling not downhill but rather up small ridges and through pipes. I followed their flow to see them all rush into a great black pool that filled a ditch at the top of the narrow road on which I walked. And from its surface a white-white head emerged, and then the monster rose up shining like a tooth, and all the waters receded into the black of its hands and feet and up to its lip and eyes, as well, and now, it stood and looked at me and I knew better than to do anything but run until my lungs burnt red, not black, but red." Santisakul, Yai. Personal journal #1, 50

behaviour and effects

The endroni possesses a greedy and miserly disposition. Although it has no bones, it moves with a grinding, popping sound, as though its every motion causes unseen joints to snap in and out of place. Its gait is slow and weary, and it leaves behind wet, sludgy footprints with each step3.

3.

"Their trails became easy to see; they're creatures of routine, just as are we. Do you really think that we'll ever be able to scrub away the paths where they walked over-over-and-over again? Over-over; no choice but to tear the whole thing down and start again." Smith, Zsuzsa. Journals, later stage (date unknown)

The endroni spends its days hoarding and consuming trash, which accrues inside of its body cavity. The endroni appears to prefer inorganic substances over organic matter, and, for the most part, displays little interest in food (which is not to say that the consumption of rotten food is wholly unheard of). As the endroni eats more and more, its body cavity becomes filled with splintered plastic, broken glass, and sharp pieces of metal. While much of it dissolves in the endroni's digestive fluids, the sheer quantity of trash eventually compacts and shreds its internal organs, which do not appear necessary for the function of life. Despite its ambivalence towards organic matter as a whole, the endroni always consumes any animal and human corpses it finds.

Once the endroni's body is full, it expels this mix of partially-dissolved trash in order to continue feeding. The endroni never eats the same object twice, although it does, on occasion, rearrange expelled piles, often using them to line the walls of its den.

The endroni does not seek out specific objects, but does appear drawn to the color white, and touches white objects over and over, ceasing only when its oil-exuding skin stains these objects beyond any hope of lightness. The endroni even attempts to black out its own white visage when it appears reflected in glass, metal, or other reflective surfaces, apparently unable to recognize its own image (although it does not display compulsive blackening towards its own white skin).

Although the endroni is fiercely territorial against others of its strain, on rare occasions, two endroni can be found sharing a territory for a brief stretch of time. These pairs sort trash together, lay near one another, and stroke each others faces in a smug attempt for each to black out the whiteness of the other. This companionship rarely lasts long however, and invariably, the larger of the two endroni kills and cannibalizes the smaller individual after several days.

interactions with sensitives

The endroni preys on any sensitive who enters its territory. While it is not as physically robust as its size and visage would indicate, it is still stronger than all but the most muscular or athletic of sensitives. Lacking in speed, the endroni primarily uses its intimidating size to corner and overpower any sensitive that it encounters, which it then swallows alive as if they were a piece of trash. Consumed sensitives are crushed and impaled by the many sharp objects inside the endroni's body, sentenced to die a slow and fetid death.

The corpses of devoured sensitives dissolve to fluid within a week's time (a process occurring on top of typical decomposition), and their liquified remains are absorbed by the endroni's inner walls and secreted as dark oil from this stranger's black tear markings.

Despite its size, the endroni is rather cowardly, and avoids violent sensitives. When badly wounded, it is quick to retreat to the bowels of its den, where it tends to its wounds by stuffing them with small bits of trash and dirt (an action which does not appear to aid regrowth, and instead, only causes the endroni to grow more grotesque and misshapen as its regenerating flesh envelops this debris).

aging and death

The endroni's flesh weakens as it ages, allowing the trash within its body to pierce through its sides. Despite these injuries, the endroni continues to feed, which only serves to break its body apart more and more. Eventually, it falls apart altogether, its contents bursting out upon the ground. The endroni uses its last moments to desperately attempt to push its contents back into its now ruined body, before its movements grow slow, its body limp, and it dies with a grin on its face.

"Its flesh rotted within several days, and all that remained was that stuff inside. Alarm clocks, old journals, children's shirts, VHS tapes, broken china sets, all those things that once meant so much to someone, and might have meant so much to that creature, too, but I watched a new one of these beasts trudge by, and it didn't even give them a second thought, and that pile held no more treasure anymore, for anyone." Santisakul, Yai. Personal journal #1, 82